Las Vegas festival shooting raises concerns for Austin City Limits

Law enforcement head says department must reassess plans after Las Vegas mass shooting

AUSTIN - The Austin Police Department is reviewing security plans for the upcoming Austin City Limits Music Festival in response to the Las Vegas mass shooting, Police Chief Brian Manley said Monday.

"This plan has been months in the making, and it's a plan similar to one we have used in the past," Manley said at a news conference. "However, we can't come in the day after an event like we just saw happen in Las Vegas and not reconsider our plans and make sure that we are comfortable that we have addressed every threat possible."

A gunman opened fire late Sunday on a crowd of 22,000 at the Route 91 Harvest music festival from the 32nd floor of a hotel near the Las Vegas Strip, killing 58 and wounding more than 500.

"As a police department, it is important that we pay attention to all the threats, and what we saw happen last night into this morning was something new that we haven't seen before," Manley said.

ACL is a two-weekend music festival in Austin that draws thousands of people from across Texas. The music festival is held annually in Zilker Park, overlooked by the skyscrapers of downtown Austin.

Federal support

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement there was "no information to indicate a specific credible threat involving other public venues in the country." Manley also said APD has been monitoring the internet for threats against ACL and has found none.

APD is anticipating state and federal assistance with policing ACL both weekends, Manley said.

"We have reached out to our partners at federal and state, and I know at the federal level we will have some participation," Manley said during the news conference. "I just spoke to (the Department of Public Safety) minutes ago, and they, too, are volunteering resources to bring in this weekend as well as next weekend to assist with overall security ... I want to emphasize that it is important people come out and enjoy this event, and we will make this event as safe as possible partnering with other agencies."

Houston First, which manages the George R. Brown Convention Center, the city's fine arts facilities and the downtown parking garages that serve many of them, provides security for its buildings and grounds during events, but security measures for each event generally are implemented by the producer of each gathering, said Rob Jackson, senior vice president of the local government corporation.

The agency's outdoor spaces, such as Miller Outdoor Theater and downtown's Jones Plaza, have only begun to be discussed under the Event Management Safety and Security Initiative, a federal program aimed at encouraging the development of technologies to improve responses or prevent acts of terror in such settings.

The effort has seen the addition of clear bags and added screenings at football stadiums, Jackson said, and is working its way to smaller venues.

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"It hasn't really made it in full to convention centers and fine arts performing facilities, until now," he said. "I think we're in the very beginning stages of those conversations happening for those types of venues right now."

Changing reality

Houston First suggested to DHS officials several months ago that their discussions be broadened beyond assessing security protocols at GRB to include the agency's other venues, and federal officials backed that idea, Jackson said.

"I don't think Vegas reveals a new vulnerability. I think that vulnerability has existed," Jackson said. "It maybe highlights the changing reality that we just have to do more and better to protect against it. What those answers are I think we're all still struggling to figure out right now."

Back in Austin, two bands that performed at the Vegas festival, Brothers of Osborne and Midland, will also be at ACL.

Both bands performed in Las Vegas on Friday, and Brothers of Osborne will be performing both weekends of the festival in Austin, Oct. 8 and 15. Midland will be in Austin for the second weekend of the festival on Oct. 15.

Neither band has announced any changes to upcoming tour dates.

Eagles of Death Metal, the band performing in the Bataclan Theatre at the time of the 2015 Paris attacks that left 130 dead across the city, is also slated to play at ACL on Friday, Oct. 13.